From New York to Texas: 40 Congressional Districts Are Being Challenged Ahead of 2024

In close national elections like the 2022 midterm elections, the outcome of litigation can have a huge impact on the final results. The decisions of courts in redistricting litigation contributed to the Republican Party’s current margin in the U.S. House of Representatives. With 12 congressional maps still subject to litigation and at least 40 districts at issue, decisions in numerous cases stand to impact control of the House in 2024 and beyond.

Ongoing congressional redistricting litigation has the potential to determine how communities are represented in states across the country, remedy discrimination in map-drawing and have implications for partisan gerrymandering claims.

According to Democracy Docket’s database of over 600 lawsuits, there are currently 26 lawsuits across 12 states that challenge congressional maps; 20 lawsuits are pending in federal court and six cases are pending in state court. 

In federal court, pro-voting forces across the deep south are fighting congressional maps that dilute voting strength of minority voters. For example, in Texas, seven consolidated federal lawsuits are seeking to ensure voters of color have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. Many of these cases bring claims under Section 2 of the VRA, which was recently upheld in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Milligan. In state courts, another bucket of lawsuits challenge partisan gerrymandering, unconstitutional processes and more. 

Learn about the districts that may shift ahead of 2024 here.

Two Black-Majority Districts is Far Too Many for Republicans

Alabama continues to be one of the states with ongoing congressional redistricting litigation that we are closely following. 

After signing a new congressional map with only one majority-Black district — in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) stated that the GOP-controlled “Legislature knows our state, our people and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups, and I am pleased that they answered the call, remained focused and produced new districts ahead of the court deadline.”

This new map has a 39.93% Black voting-age population in the state’s 2nd Congressional District and 50.65% in the 7th Congressional District. The map clearly lacks a second district that would allow Black voters to have the opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice, plainly violating the district court’s 2022 order — a decision the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed last month — which stated that “any remedial plan will need to include two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.”

According to reporting, the sponsor of the map, Rep. Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro), stated that he spoke with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and McCarthy said “I’m interested in keeping my majority.”

• At the county level, other maps in Alabama are under similar scrutiny this week. Civil rights organizations asked a federal court to block the map for the Jefferson County, Alabama commission. The groups argue that the districts in the state’s most populous county are racially gerrymandered to "crack" and "pack" Black voters in the Birmingham-based county.

In another attempt to avoid drawing a second Black-majority district, Louisiana Republicans also objected to a federal court's order to redraw the state's congressional map to comply with the VRA. The officials are asking for a full trial to determine if Louisiana's map violates Section 2 of the VRA. This request was made in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, which held that “statutes requiring race-based classification…necessarily become obsolete.” Louisiana Republicans suggest this means that Section 2 — which they contend similarly requires classifying voters based on their race — may also no longer apply to Louisiana. To support this alarming argument, they point to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurrence in Allen v. Milligan.

• Like in Alabama, the plaintiffs in the Louisiana case allege that Black voters are “packed” into one majority-Black district and “cracked” among the five other districts in order to dilute their voting power in violation of the VRA and assert that the appropriate remedy is a map with two majority-Black districts.

Black Voters Fight for Representation With Section 2 Lawsuits 

Earlier this week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in Arkansas challenging the methods used to elect Arkansas Supreme Court justices and appellate court judges. It was a blow to Black voters seeking better representation in the state’s judicial selection process. 

In addition to the Arkansas lawsuit, there are two other lawsuits with Section 2 claims that focus on the way people can elect their judicial representatives in Louisiana and Mississippi. Each lawsuit deals with fair and equal representation — or, more accurately, the alleged lack thereof — of Black voters in the state’s judicial selection process. In particular, the ongoing 40-year-old lawsuit out of Louisiana highlights the need to keep tools that protect minorities in place and how voters are still fighting to have their voices heard. 

Getting Out of Jail Does Not Give You a Free to Vote Card

In a new memo, the state of Tennessee announced that an individual convicted of a felony must now receive a pardon or court order to regain the right to vote, adding new hurdles to an already arduous rights restoration process.

The change was made in light of last month’s decision in Falls v. Goins, in which the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld a disenfranchisement scheme that prohibits certain individuals with out-of-state felony convictions from voting in Tennessee. Tennessee has what is known as a pay-to-vote law, which requires individuals to pay all fees, fines or other debts related to their conviction before being eligible for enfranchisement. 

• Currently, more than 9% of the voting-age population in Tennessee cannot vote due to a felony conviction, according to the Sentencing Project. In addition, Tennessee is one of several states where more than one in 10 Black individuals are disenfranchised.

In North Carolina, another state with a pay-to-vote law, a trial was scheduled for April 1, 2024 in a federal lawsuit challenging the state's law that criminalizes voting while on felony parole, probation or post-release supervision — even if the individuals were told they are eligible to vote. The groups who brought the lawsuit argue that the law intentionally discriminates against Black North Carolinians.

More News

• In New York, Republicans appealed a decision that requires the Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the state's congressional map, giving New York’s highest court the final say. Five Republican members of the commission also appealed the decision. 

• In a new filing, the Democratic Party of New Mexico asked to defend the state's congressional map in a legal challenge from the Republican Party of New Mexico. The Republicans are arguing that the map is gerrymandered to unfairly favor Democrats.

• In California, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s laws permitting universal mail-in voting, online voter registration, community ballot collection and  more. The plaintiffs failed to prove that they are harmed by these laws, the judge ruled.

• In a win for voters with disabilities, a federal court temporarily blocked a Mississippi law that restricted who could help voters return their completed mail-in ballots. 

• Democrats in Washington, D.C. reintroduced two democracy-related bills yesterday. One, introduced in the House, would strengthen congressional oversight of the executive branch among other provisions. The second, introduced in the Senate, would protect election workers. 

OPINION: Sheriffs Undermine Democracy Through Nullification

By Jessica Pishko, an independent journalist and lawyer who focuses on how the criminal justice system and how law enforcement intersects with political power. As a contributor to Democracy Docket, Pishko writes about the criminalization of elections and how sheriffs in particular have become a growing threat to democracy. Read more ➡️

We are reading an article from the Center for Public Integrity on the consequences of the North Carolina Republican Party’s decade-long mission to claim the state’s highest court. Did you know that in the Tar Heel State, people with past felony convictions held the right to vote for 276 days before the state Supreme Court reversed its decision in April? 

This week marks the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To celebrate, we are learning more about the intersection between voting rights and accessibility. 

According to the ACLU, over 11% of voters with disabilities reported difficulties casting a ballot in 2020. Policies like bans on drop boxes, restrictions on absentee voting and criminalizing ballot-return assistance harm disabled voters as restrictions make it harder for people to elect representatives who will advocate for them.

It’s summer break for our podcast, Defending Democracy! So, there won’t be a new episode until after Labor Day. But, it’s the perfect time to catch up on everything that has been covered so far this year. Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.